By Sharon Zhang, Singapore Turf Club
The small but tough Song Of Nature opened his account at his third start when claiming the $75,000 Restricted Maiden race over 1600m on Saturday.
The three-year-old son of All Too Hard settled nicely on the fence third from last after jumping, while Dabble (Matthew Kellady) sprung the gates to snatch the lead from hot favourite Deception (Danny Beasley).
Turning for home, Deception pounced on the faltering leader, but he did not pull away like a $7 shot, especially with Sunset (Marc Lerner) and Bingo Master (Shafiq Rizuan) looking hungry for their first wins, too.
Song Of Nature ($63) was seen laying in under regular partner Koh Teck Huat, but the Singaporean rider was quick to switch the whip to his left hand to keep his mount going again.
Under strong urgings, Song Of Nature defeated Bingo Master into second place by half-a-length. Deception had every chance but could only run third another three-quarter of a length away.
The winning time was 1min 36.60 secs on the Long Course over the mile.
Winning trainer Jason Ong said he had been quietly confident about the Spirit Nature Stable-owned gelding running an improved race going into the mile event.
“He is a handy horse looking for the distance,” said Ong of his 11th winner of the season.
““It’s a small field, so I went in with a fair bit of confidence in him.
“We don’t have a lot of Restricted Maiden races over these sorts of distances, so we planned for this, and I put in quite a bit of work into him.
“He is a tough horse; he took it well and did everything right.
“TH (Teck Huat) Koh gave him a good ride. Credit to the staff, and thanks to the owners for their patience.
“I’ll see how he pulls up, but he should be going for a Novice race over this distance or even a bit further next.”
Koh rides him in trackwork and in his trials, as well as at his last two starts over the 1200m races. He was unplaced in both runs.
“Jason wanted him to jump and sit where he is comfortable, and be in mid-field near the back,” said Koh.
“We were following the favourite and coming into the straight, he still had plenty in the tank.
“He was hanging in, so I changed my whip to the left side, and he responded well.
“He’s a small horse, easy to ride, but he’s still learning, even if he has improved from his last two runs.
“Last 100m out, I knew I was going to win.”
Koh went on to bag a double two races later when he steered the Jerome Tan-trained Per Incrown ($55) to a hard-fought win in the $30,000 Class 5 Division 1 race over 1200m two, taking his season tally to six wins.
With that first win, Song Of Nature has earned more than $40,000 in prizemoney, close to recouping his cost price of A$50,000 for connections.
